Arris has announced the availability of its Touchstone TM702 embedded multimedia terminal adapter (EMTA), which provides converged voice and data service with data speeds of up to 160 Mbps.

The TM702 pairs two lines of carrier-grade VoIP with the channel-bonded speeds of DOCSIS 3.0. Arris’ TM702 uses the channel-bonding, wideband functionality from DOCSIS 3.0 to attain the higher speeds.

Cable operators are counting on DOCSIS 3.0’s increased upstream and downstream speeds as a way to compete against telcos.

"Arris is extending its leadership in cable voice-over-IP with this DOCSIS 3.0-based EMTA product family," said Bruce McClelland, president of the Arris Communications Group. "We have developed our next generation of EMTAs and data modems as a direct response to cable MSO requests for increased speed and reliability, as they go head-to-head with competitors to serve their most demanding and profitable market segment."

During the third quarter of last year, an inflection point was reached when global EMTA (voice-enabled cable modems) shipments exceeded those of data-only modem shipments.

A spokesman for Arris said that the company expects the TM702 to be in CableLabs’ next certification wave. The TM702 is currently being trialed in unnamed cable operators’ labs.

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